Graterford Prison

4 June 93

FULFILLEDPROPHECY TESTED:

PAIREDCITIES

Introduction

Goodtest to show that Bible really does make clear predictions that come true

Liketests used in trying out a new medicine; use a control group which is pairedwith test group, but gets fake pills

The Cities:

Memphis& Thebes: capitals of ancient Egypt

Tyre& Sidon: seaports of ancient Phoenicia (Lebanon)

Ashkelon& Ekron: two of the Philistine cities

Babylon& Nineveh: capitals of ancient empires

The Prophecies Fulfilled:

Memphis/Thebes:

Prophecies(Ezk 30:13-16)

Memphisto have its idols destroyed

Thebesto have is masses of people cut off

Fulfillment:

Memphissite became quarry for building Cairo by Muslims who hated idols

Thebesreduced from large capital city to a few small villages

Nogood if names switched, as both have few people, but many idols found at Thebes

Tyre/Sidon:

Prophecies:

Tyre(Ezk 26:1-14) to have its rubble thrown into sea, its site scraped clean,becoming a place for spreading fishnets, never to be rebuilt

Sidon(Ezk 28:20-23) to face war and disaster, but nothing said about being abandoned

Fulfillment:

Tyre'smainland city destroyed about 600 BC by Nebuchadnezzar, but most people escapedto island offshore; almost 300 yrs later, Alexander besieged island, usedrubble from old city to build road out to island; mainland site used forspreading nets today, never rebuilt.

Sidonhas often been besieged and conquered, but survives today as one of major portsof Lebanon

Again,no good if names switched, but perfect fit as is

Ashkelon/Ekron:

Prophecies(Zeph 2:4-7):

Ashkelonwas to be reduced to ruins, but later inhabited by a remnant of the Jews

Ekronwas to be uprooted

Fulfillment:

Bothinhabited until Crusades, when both destroyed, and harbor of Ashkelon filled w/stones

Since1948, Jews rebuilt Ashkelon and cleared harbor, but location of Ekron stilluncertain

Babylon/Nineveh:

Prophecies:

Babylonto be deserted, without Arabs or shepherds, to be a home for wild animals (Isa13:19-22), its stone not to be used as bldg stone again (Jer 51:26)

Nineveh(Zeph 2:13-15) to be destroyed and left desolate, but to become a place forgrazing sheep

Fulfillment:

Babylonhas become deserted over the centuries, partly by conquest, partly by shift inriver, leaving site without water; Arabs avoid site as haunted, soil too poorfor grazing even sheep; natives use site for clay bricks, but burn stone tomake lime instead of as bldg stone.

Ninevehwas destroyed suddenly and location forgotten for centuries; name of largestmound Quyunyiq means "many sheep"; long abandoned, tho recentlysuburbs of Mosul have grown out to reach site

Conclusions

Strikingfulfillment of numerous details about these cities

Notjust the sort of thing that one could say about any city

Infact, if you trade names among the paired cities, the fulfillments would nothave come true!

Thisshows us that the God of the Bible really does control history

AndHe controls your history too!